Study Guide Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water New Stage Theatre Education SEASON 53: THE POWER OF PLACE NEW STAGE THEATRE EDUCATION STUDY GUIDE: Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water Table of Contents Table of Contents Page 1 Audience Etiquette Page 2 Discussion Questions and Classroom/Research Activity Page 3 About the Author: Marcus Gardley Page 4 About the Play Page 5 Statistical Comparison of the Great Flood of 1927 and the Flood of 1993 Page 6 The Cast of Characters and Production Staff Page 7 New Stage Theatre’s Production: Scenic Design Page 8 Costume Design and 1920’s Fashion Page 9 Director’s Notes: Francine Reynolds, Artistic Director Page 11 Quotes from Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi Page 13 A Brief History of the Levee System in Mississippi Page 14 The Mississippi River Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers Page 16 The Cotton Belt: The Mississippi Delta Page 17 The Yazoo and Mississippi Valley/Illinois Central Passenger Train Page 19 The Flood of 1927 Page 20 Life on the Levee and the American Red Cross Page 23 Robert Moton and the Colored Advisory Commission Page 25 The Flood’s Aftermath Page 27 About Vasti Jackson, Composer and Musical Director Page 28 Delta Blues Music and Famous Blues Artists Page 30 The Great Migration Page 31 The Percys Page 34 William Percy’s speech from Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of a Planter’s Son Page 37 Perspectives of the Flood and Disaster Relief Page 38 Crossword Puzzle of The Great Flood of 1927 Page 41 Crossword Answer Key Page 42 Further Reading and Resources Page 43 Teacher Evaluation Form Page 44 Student Evaluation Form Page 45 1100 Carlisle Street Jackson, MS. 39202 601.948.3533, ext. 232: Sharon Miles, Education Director ext. 236: Drew Stark, Education Associate www.newstagetheatre.com NEW STAGE THEATRE: SEASON 53: Power of Place Page | 1 NEW STAGE THEATRE EDUCATION STUDY GUIDE: Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water Audience Etiquette This performance of Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water at New Stage Theatre may be some students’ first theatre experience. To best prepare your students for today’s performance, we ask that you review these guidelines for expected behavior of an audience as follows: Stay with your group at all times and pay attention to your teachers and chaperones. Listen to the New Stage staff member who will board your bus and escort your group to the lobby. Be sure to go to the bathroom before the performance begins. It is hard to leave without causing a disturbance to those around you once the performance starts. Make yourself comfortable while keeping movement to a minimum. Please do not stand up, walk around or put your feet on the seat in front of you. Absolutely no gum chewing, eating or drinking in the theatre. Noise Live theatre creates a unique and dynamic atmosphere between actors and audience members for sharing ideas and emotional expression. In the same way that actors can hear what is happening on-stage, they can also hear disruptions in the audience as well. While actors appreciate laughter and applause at appropriate times, excessive noise and talking is not welcomed. Even whispering voices can be distracting to the actors and others in the audience. Do not talk during the performance. Cell phones are prohibited inside the theatre. Not only is the use of cell phones during a performance distracting for both the actors and fellow audience members, the cellular signal interferes with the use of our sound system. Upon entering the theatre, please remind students (and teachers) to turn off all electronic devices and store them during the performance. At the conclusion of the performance, we encourage you to like us on Facebook and other social media platforms. Applause Applause respectfully acknowledges the performers and shows appreciation or audience approval. Traditionally, applause occurs before intermission and at the conclusion of a performance. Dimming the lights on the stage and bringing up the house lights generally signals these intervals. A curtain call, when the cast returns to the stage, will follow every performance. Enjoy the show! NEW STAGE THEATRE: SEASON 53: Power of Place Page | 2 NEW STAGE THEATRE EDUCATION STUDY GUIDE: Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water Discussion Questions for Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water If you were given the opportunity to uproot your life and family from everything that is familiar for the promise of a better life, would you? If making a better life for yourself was possible where you currently are, would you choose to move and why? The Great Flood of 1927 had significant impact on Mississippi, affecting its agricultural industry, social relationships, civil rights, music and literature, as well as other aspects of everyday life. Think about one of these outcomes and compare it to the effects of a modern US disaster such as Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Was the response of Mississippians in 1927 the same as they were in 2005? Why or why not? How has a federal response to disasters changed the relief effort? Explain the environmental aspects that contributed to the rise of the flood waters of the Mississippi. What role should our government play in maintaining and preserving our environment within our own borders and with countries in rest of the world? If you were faced with a cataclysmic disaster (i.e. flood, wildfire, tornado, hurricane) and you had the opportunity to grab three things from your home before it is destroyed, what would those items be and why? The playwright Marcus Gardley is noted for both creating strong roles for African American women and using music as a spiritual and narrative force in his works. How does the music, created by Vasti Jackson for New Stage’s production, support Gardley’s narrative and add to the dramatic intensity of our production? How do the female characters in Hell in High Water contribute to the main conflict between father and son? Classroom and Research Activity Discuss with students the types of natural disasters that are common in your area, such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and forest fires. Research other natural disasters that have affected Mississippians, such as: The Mississippi River Floods of 1973 and 2011 The 1979 Easter Flood of the Pearl River Hurricanes Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005 The Delta ice storm of 1994 The Tupelo tornadoes of 1936, 2008, and 2014 The Hattiesburg tornado of 2013 The Louisville tornado of 2014 Write an informative essay or create a presentation to share with the class informing them about the circumstances of the disaster. How does it compare to the Flood of 1927? NEW STAGE THEATRE: SEASON 53: Power of Place Page | 3 NEW STAGE THEATRE EDUCATION STUDY GUIDE: Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water About the Author: Marcus Gardley Originally from West Oakland, California, American poet- playwright Marcus Gardley was born the son of a minister and a nurse. A self-proclaimed avid reader at an early age, he studied and wrote poetry at San Francisco State University. He later went on to complete his MFA in playwriting from the Yale Drama School. A member of New Dramatists, The Dramatists Guild, and The Lark Play Development Center, Gardley is a professor of playwriting at Brown University. He was also awarded the 2011 PEN/Laura Pels award for Mid-Career Playwright. His early influences include August Wilson, James Baldwin, and the early Harlem art scene. His most recent play, Every Tongue Confess, premiered at Arena Stage starring Phylicia Rashad and directed by Kenny Leon in 2010. This work was nominated for the Steinberg New Play Award, the Charles MacArthur Award and was a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. On the Levee (now Hell in High Water), a play with music, premiered in 2010 at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater and was nominated for 11 Audelco Awards including outstanding playwright. His play, And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi, was produced at The Cutting Ball Theater in 2010 and received the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award nomination for outstanding new play and was extended twice. He has had six plays produced including dance of the holy ghost at Yale Repertory Theatre (now under a Broadway option,) (L)imitations of Life, at the Empty Space in Seattle, and like sun fallin’ in the mouth at the National Black Theatre Festival. He is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Award, a Kesselring Honor, the Gerbode Emerging Playwright Award, the National Alliance for Musical Theatre Award, the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Scholarship, and the ASCAP Cole Porter Award. I am obsessed with these stories that evolve over time. Stories in the Bible, but also Greek myth, creation stories, and how we need them in order to understand our humanity. I am also really obsessed with histories that are no longer in the popular consciousness- parts of our history that are taboo to discuss or that we just don’t know, for whatever reason. -Marcus Gardley, 2014 Marcus Gardley’s On The Levee at Lincoln Center in 2010. NEW STAGE THEATRE: SEASON 53: Power of Place Page | 4 NEW STAGE THEATRE EDUCATION STUDY GUIDE: Marcus Gardley’s Hell in High Water About the Play Synopsis: Set in Greenville Mississippi, Hell in High Water is an epic musical play that explores the almost forgotten Mississippi flood of 1927, one of the worst natural disasters in United States history. At the heart of the story are two fathers and sons: LeRoy Percy, a white cotton farmer, and his poet-son Will, and Joe Goodin, an African-American bootblack and his son James, a self- proclaimed lady’s man.